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OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 



"THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER." 



THE HISTORY OF IT. 



MAJOR GEN'L SCHUYLER HAMILTON. 





NEW- YORK: 

GEO. R. LOCKWOOD & SON, 

812 BROADWAY. 

1887. 



THE LIBRARY 
lor C OMPR ESS 

| WASHINGTON 



n 



Copyright, 1887, by Schuyler Hamilton. 



PREFACE. 

In 1852 the author, by request of General Win- 
field Scott, prepared with great care a monograph 
on the National Flag of the United States of North 
America. 

This history met with general acceptance, but un- 
fortunately the bulk of the edition was destroyed 
by fire. The frequent inquiries as to where copies 
can be procured has induced the preparation of the 
following condensed accent of our national flag. 
Every school-boy and school-girl in the land should 
be familiar with the chief points in the history of 
their country's ensign. How few of our citizens 
know them, even among those who by land and sea 
have periled their lives in defense of it, is matter 
of surprise. The author vouches, without hesita- 
tion, the general accuracy of his statements. 

Schuyler Hamilton, 

Major General. 

New York City, October, 1886. 



OUR l^ATIO^AL FLAG, 

"THE STAR-SPAJSTG-LED BANNEE." 

THE HISTORY OF IT. 

A mong all the nations of antiquity, especially the 
II heathen nations, their ensigns (the origin of 
the word is in signo, " in sign of " ) were in one way 
or another the effigy of, or something represent- 
ing, the god or gods they worshiped. It would be 
idle to attempt to enumerate them. Nor was this 
practice confined to heathen nations. When the 
Israelites strove with Amalek and the victory 
rested with Israel, Moses, in memory of this vic- 
tory, caused an altar to be built and inscribed 
upon it, Jehovah nissi, — "The Lord is our ensign, 
or banner." 

The ensign of each tribe of Israel, it is said, 
was an illustration upon the tribal banner, — which 
was of the color of the stone in the breast-plate 
of the high priest, as an emblem of the tribe, — of 
the blessing of Jacob to his son, the progenitor of 



OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

the tribe. For example : " The Lion of the tribe 
of Judah," etc. (Genesis, chap, xlix.) 

After the Roman Emperor Constantine was con- 
verted to Christianity by a cross in the heavens, 
and the legend or words, In hoc signo vinces 
("In this sign conquer "), the cross became a 
common ensign. The emperors of Rome, however, 
adhered to the eagle. When the Roman Empire 
became divided into the Eastern and Western Em- 
pires, the emperors of each portion claimed the 
sovereignty of the whole, and to typify it used a 
double-headed eagle. 

This double-headed eagle became the ensign of 
Russia, as it is to-day, on the marriage of Ivan I. 
of Russia to a Grecian princess, heiress of the 
Eastern Empire. 

With the title of Roman Emperor it passed 
from the Western Empire to the Emperor of Aus- 
tria. A double-headed eagle is at present the 
ensign of Austria. 

The crescent, now the ensign of the Turks, was 
a Christian symbol, and formed from all antiquity 
the symbol of Byzantium or Constantinople. On 
the overthrow of this empire by Mohammed II., 
the Turks, regarding the crescent, which every- 
where met their eye on the churches and cathe- 
drals of Constantinople, as a good omen, adopted 
it as their chief bearing. 



"the star-spangled banner." 7 

Colonel Moultrie, during the struggle between 
Great Britain and the colonies of North America, 
caused a blue flag to be made, with a crescent in 
one corner, to be in uniform with the troops. It 
was used in the taking of Fort Johnston on James's 
Island, South Carolina. It was doubtless as an 
" emblem of sovereignty " it was adopted by Colonel 
Moultrie. 

At the time of the Crusades, the Pope gave to 
each nation a special cross. To the English a red 
cross on a white banner, the standard of the cross 
vertical, the cross piece horizontal, called the Cross 
of St. George, and their war cry was " St. G-eorge 
and Merry England." To the Scots was assigned 
the Cross of St. Andrew, a peculiar cross called a 
"saltire" or "saltier," white on a blue ground, 
extending from corner to corner of the square blue 
banner and crossing at the center. On a similar 
cross St. Andrew is supposed to have been cruci- 
fied. The cross of St. Patrick is also a saltier, 
but red on a white ground. On January 1, 1801, 
on the union of Great Britain and Ireland, the 
cross of St. Patrick was introduced into the great 
union ensign of Great Britain by laying upon the 
white saltier of St. Andrew the red saltier of St. 
Patrick. The white banner from which it came and 
the white saltier of St. Andrew, upon which it was 
as it were overlaid, are preserved by the white 



margin, according to the rules of heraldry, as may 
be seen by examining any ensign of Great Britain 
and Ireland of the present day. The national flag 
of Ireland, according to "Chambers's Encyclope- 
dia/ 7 exhibits a golden harp with silver strings on 
a green field. The origin of the harp seems to be 
lost in the mazes of antiquity. 

The Scots and English, constantly at war with 
each other, were jealous to the last degree of their 
respective banners. A banner, by the way, is 
always square. A knight or knight bachelor, as 
he was called, carried a pennon or guidon with an 
indent similar to the tail of a swallow. The word 
guidon is a corruption of the Norman French words 
guyd-Jiomme (" guide-man "). In the United States 
service every company of cavalry has its guidon. 

When a knight bachelor distinguished himself, 
especially in battle, he was summoned before the 
king, and in the presence of the troops the indent 
was cut from his pennon or guidon, thus transform- 
ing it into a square banner, and from thenceforth 
he was styled a knight banneret, or knight bearing 
a banner. 

It has been said above the Scots and English 
were excessively jealous of their respective ban- 
ners. When James VI. of Scotland became also 
James I. of England, his subjects of North and 
South Britain, as they were called, had frequent 



"the star-spangled banner." 9 

fights on the high seas, even cannonading each 
other, because each claimed the other should first 
lower his colors in salutation. 

To put a stop to such disorders, King James 
ordered his heralds to prepare a flag, a union of 
the two flags, and called the " king's colors." This 
flag all his subjects, both Scotch and English, were 
ordered to wear on their ships, on their maintop ; 
and on their foretop, those of South Britain or 
England, the red cross, as they were wont ; and the 
subjects of North Britain or of Scotland, on their 
foretop the white cross, as they were accustomed. 

It was the custom for soldiers marching under a 
banner such as above described to wear a short 
shirt over their armor with the cross of their ban- 
ner inscribed upon it, before and behind, or else 
upon the shoulders. From this came our term cru- 
saders, in French croise, or "cross-bearer." This 
shirt was usually the color of the banner. Hence 
the red coats of the British soldiery, and the blue 
bonnets, blue coats, and blue ribbons of the lowland 
Scotch. The Highlanders wore the plaid of their 
clan. The pretty nursery ballad, — 

" Oh, dear ! what can the matter be ? 

Dear! dear! what can the matter be? 

Oh, dear! what can the matter be, 

Johnny 's so long at the fair? 
lA 



10 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

He promised to bring me a bunch of blue ribbons 

To tie up my bonny brown hair. 

He promised to bring me a basket of posies, 

A garland of lilies, a garland of roses ; 

A little straw hat to set off: the blue ribbons 

That tie up my bonny brown hair," — 

arose from the pride of the Scotch maidens in their 
national color. 

The shirts worn over the armor were called 
Jacques or jackets, and hence the flags bearing the 
crosses were called jacks. We hear to-day of St. 
George's jacks, St. Andrew's jacks, and union 
jacks. The union jack of the United States is 
the simple white-starred union of our national 
ensign : at the same time the highest grades of 
officers in the navy and army are distinguished 
by a star or stars upon their epaulettes, and the 
sailors by stars upon the collars of their blue 
shirts. Sailors got their name of "Jack Tars" 
from wearing shirts similar to those described 
above 5 for the same reason, even, the heavy boots 
of the cavalry were called "jack boots." 

On the union of England and Scotland into the 
kingdom of Great Britain, under the treaty entered 
into on January 10, 1707, the king's colors became 
the great union flag of Great Britain, and with a red 
field was the ensign for all British merchant ships 



"the star-spangled banner." 11 

and the ordinary British ensign by sea and land, 
and was commonly called the " Union flag." 

To go back for a moment to the red-cross flag. 
Mr. Endicott at Salem, Massachusetts, cut a por- 
tion of the cross out of the ensign, averring the 
cross savored of popery. At the next General 
Court Mr. Endicott was called in question about 
defacing the cross in the ensign, and still later was 
sharply censured and left out of the magistracy 
for having done so, among other reasons because 
his act might give "the state of England reason 
to think ill of us." 

Nevertheless, owing to the superstition of the 
people, the red-cross flag was laid aside for a 
time, and red and white roses substituted for it. 
Finally, in 1651 (it was the time of the Common- 
wealth in England), the General Court passed 
a resolve " that, inasmuch as the Parliament of 
England in the war with King Charles I. had 
used the red-cross flag, and it being a badge of 
distinction between the English and the other 
nations, in all places of the world, till the state of 
England alter the same, which we much desire, we, 
being of the same nation, the captain of the fort 
at Boston will advance the same upon the castle 
upon all necessary occasions." The state of Eng- 
land did not see fit to alter the ensign, and the 
red-cross flag continued the ensign of England 



12 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

and its dependencies until the union with Scot- 
land, when the banner of St. G-eorge and the 
banner of St. Andrew conjoined, as previously 
described, became the ensign of Great Britain. 

In regard to the great union flag of Great Brit- 
ain, there are several things to be noticed. King 
James was a Scot. King James was learned in 
the Bible, and the blue ground of St. Andrew's 
banner was God's color. In the fifteenth chapter 
of Numbers, verses 37-39, it is written: "And 
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto 
the children of Israel, and bid them that they 
make them fringes in the borders of their 
garments throughout their generations, and that 
they put upon the fringe of the borders a 
ribbon of blue : And it shall be unto you for 
a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remem- 
ber all the commandments of the Lord, and do 
them," etc. 

It will be observed that the red cross laid on the 
St. Andrew's banner had a white margin, to show 
it came from a white flag. Here we must go back 
a moment ; but all history is going back to what 
went on before, with the reason of it. Endicottfs 
cutting a part of the cross out of the ensign because 
it savored of popery and was esteemed idolatrous 
has been mentioned. It will, perhaps, be some- 
what surprising to learn that more than a century 



"the star-spangled banner." 13 

later the same sentiments still swayed the common 
mind. 

When the remarkable effort of New England 
vigor in 1745, which, resulting in the capture of 
Louisburg, Cape Breton, astonished the world, 
was set on foot, many of the 40,000 men raised by 
New England under Colonel Wm. Pepperell, of 
New Hampshire, were unwilling to march under 
the great Union flag of Great Britain, because of 
the crosses. " To still men's minds," Colonel Pep- 
perell asked the eminent Methodist divine, George 
Whitefleld, then itinerating through the colonies, 
to give him a motto for the obnoxious flag, which 
perforce had to be used. Whitefleld gave the 
motto, Nil desperandum Christo Dace ("Nothing is 
to be despaired of, Christ being the leader"). This 
gave the undertaking the character of a crusade. 
Louisburg surrendered. The troops employed were 
paid by Massachusetts in paper money. This was the 
first time paper money was used on this continent. 

During the popular excitement which led to our 
Revolution, Union flags, bearing various mottoes, 
were displayed throughout the colonies. They were 
simply the British ensign. The colonists claimed 
only the rights of British subjects. Every one 
then knew a Union flag was the ensign of Great 
Britain, though probably very many did not know 
why. No one paused to describe them. 
2 



14 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

The first blood shed in our Revolution was at 
Lexington, Mass., April 19, 1775. June 17, 1775, 
the battle of Bunker's Hill was fought. On July 
18th, 1775, General Israel Putnam, in command of 
the Continental troops in front of Boston, having 
received a declaration of the Congress of the Colo- 
nies, setting forth the causes and necessity for 
taking up arms, caused it to be read to the troops, 
and a red flag, bearing the mottoes of Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut in gold, was displayed on 
Prospect Hill. The motto of Massachusetts was, 
" Appeal to Heaven." That of Connecticut was, 
Qui transtulit sustinet (" He who brought us 
across the ocean sustains us "). Thus this flag sig- 
nified union. 

A Committee of Conference was sent by Con- 
gress to arrange with General Washington the 
details of the organization of the new army, which 
went into being January 2, 1776. This committee 
consisted of Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and 
Mr. Harrison. Dr. Franklin had urged the union of 
the colonies by a serpent at the head of his news- 
paper, The Philadelphia Gazette, divided into thir- 
teen parts, each part marked with the initials of 
the colony it represented, viz., N. H., M. B., Conn., 
etc. (Maine was then a part of Massachusetts, and 
Massachusetts was called Massachusetts Bay), and 
the motto, "Join or die." After the union was 



U THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER." 15 

effected he changed the head-piece of his paper to a 
united or whole serpent with the motto, " Union is 
strength." This wise statesman and patriot and 
his coadjutors, notably General Washington, could 
not forget the object of the then pending struggle 
was not independence, but the rights and liber- 
ties of British subjects. So for an ensign for the 
colonies, they fixed upon the great Union flag of 
Great Britain in the upper canton, or corner, with 
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, a stripe 
for each colony, constituting the field. The stripe, 
or ribbon, though an old heraldic emblem, was 
especially appropriate for the flag of the colonies 
to distinguish it from that of the mother country. 
Shortly after assuming command of the army with- 
out uniforms before Boston, General Washington, 
under the dates of July 14 and July 23, 1775, 
published orders directing that the commander-in- 
chief would be distinguished by a light blue ribbon 
worn across his breast between his coat and waist- 
coat; the major-generals, by a purple ribbon; 
and the brigadier-generals, by a pink ribbon. The 
field officers were to have red or pink cockades in 
their hats; the captains, yellow or buff; and the 
subalterns, green. The sergeants were to be dis- 
tinguished by an epaulette or stripe of red cloth 
sewed upon the right shoulder, and the corporals 
by one of green. Sometimes the portraits of Gen- 



16 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

eral Washington exhibit this blue ribbon. Some 
have deemed this the insignia of a Marshal of 
France. General Washington never was a Mar- 
shal of France. The blue ribbon was simply the 
distinctive badge first worn by him as commander- 
in-chief. 

The display of the great union flag of the colo- 
nies, or striped union flag, as it was called some- 
times, General Washington says, in a letter written 
at the time to Joseph Reed, Secretary to the Com- 
mittee of Conference, " farcical enough," without 
knowing or intending it, "gave great joy to the 
Boston gentry." It seems that a speech of the king 
of Great Britain had been sent into the camp of 
the rebels, as the colonists were called, which they 
burned. Immediately after its receipt the great 
union flag of the colonies was displayed, and the 
British signal officer in Boston mistook it for two 
flags, and so reported it, — the British Union flag 
above the flag of thirteen stripes, which he sup- 
posed to be the flag of the colonies, and therefore 
interpreted it as a token of submission. 

On the evacution of Boston by the British, this 
standard, " The Great Union Flag of the Colonies," 
was, on the entrance of the American army into 
Boston, carried by Ensign Richards. 

This flag floated over the American army in its 
retreat from Long Island, the defeat at White 



"the star-spangled banner." 17 

Plains, and Washington's daring passage of the 
Delaware, when full of floating ice, on the stormy 
Christmas night, December 25, 1775, which pre- 
ceded the successful battle of Trenton. 

The colors of the colonial fleet under Admiral 
Hopkins, which sailed from the Capes of the 
Delaware February 17, 1776, were the great union 
flag of the colonies, with the thirteen stripes alter- 
nate red and white, and the admiral's flag — a yel- 
low flag with a black rattlesnake in the attitude of 
going to strike, and the motto, "Don't tread on 
me." This flag also was an emblem of union, as 
the following letter from Dr. Franklin, dated 
Philadelphia, December 27, 1775, sets forth : 

" I observe on one of the drums of the marines 
now raising there was painted a rattlesnake, with 
this motto under it, ' Don't tread on me.' As I know 
it is the custom to have some device on the arms 
of every country, I suppose this may have been 
intended for the arms of America ; and as I have 
nothing to do with public affairs, and as my time 
is perfectly my own, in order to divert an idle hour 
I sat down to guess what could have been intended 
by this uncommon device. I took care, however, 
to consult, on this occasion, a person who is ac- 
quainted with heraldry, from whom I learned that 
it is a rule among the learned in that science 
'that the worthy properties of the animal, in the 



18 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

crest-born, shall be considered'; lie likewise in- 
formed me that the ancients considered the ser- 
pent as an emblem of wisdom ; and, in a certain 
attitude, of endless duration, both which circum- 
stances, I suppose, may have been had in view. Hav- 
ing gained this intelligence, and recollecting that 
countries i are sometimes represented by animals 
peculiar to them,' it occurred to me that the rattle- 
snake is found in no other quarter of the world 
besides America, and may, therefore, have been 
chosen on that account to represent her. 

" But then, i the worthy properties 7 of a snake, 
I judged, would be hard to point out. This rather 
raised than suppressed my curiosity ; and having 
frequently seen the rattlesnake, I ran over in my 
mind every property by which she was distin- 
guished, not only from other animals, but from 
those of the same genus or class of animals, en- 
deavoring to fix some meaning to each not wholly 
inconsistent with common-sense. 

" I recollected that her eye excelled in brightness 
that of any other animal, and that she has no eye- 
lids. She may, therefore, be esteemed an emblem 
of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor, 
when once engaged, ever surrenders. She is, there- 
fore, an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. 
As if anxious to prevent all pretensions of quarel- 
ing with her, the weapons with which nature has 



"the star-spangled banner." 19 

furnished her she conceals in the roof of her 
mouth; so that, to those who are unacquainted 
with her, she appears to be a defenseless animal. 
And even when those weapons are shown and ex- 
tended for defense, they appear weak and con- 
temptible; but their wounds, however small, are 
decisive and fatal. Conscious of this, she never 
wounds till she has generously given notice, even 
to her enemy, and cautioned him against the 
danger of treading on her. Was I wrong sir, in 
thinking this a strong picture of the temper and 
conduct of America ? 

" The poison of her teeth is the necessary means 
of digesting her food, and at the same time is cer- 
tain destruction to her enemies. This may be un- 
derstood to intimate that those things which are 
destructive to our enemies may be to us not only 
harmless, but absolutely necessary to our exist- 
ence. I confess I was wholly at a loss what to 
make of the rattles, till I went back and counted 
them, and found them just thirteen, exactly the 
number of the colonies united in America ; and I 
recollected, too, that this was the only part of the 
snake which increased in number. 

" Perhaps it might be only fancy, but I conceived 
the painter had shown a half- formed additional rat- 
tle, which I suppose may have been intended to 
represent the province of Canada. 'T is curious 



20 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

and amazing to observe how distinct and independ- 
ent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and 
yet how firmly they are united together, so as never 
to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. 
One of these rattles singly is incapable of produc- 
ing sound ; but the ringing of thirteen together is 
sufficient to alarm the boldest man living. The 
rattlesnake is solitary, and associates with her 
kind only when it is necessary for their preserva- 
tion. In winter the warmth of a number together 
will preserve their lives, while singly they would 
probably perish. The power of fascination attrib- 
uted to her, by a generous construction may be 
understood to mean that those who consider the 
liberty and blessings which America affords, and 
once come over to her, never afterwards leave her, 
but spend their lives with her. She strongly resem- 
bles America in this, that she is beautiful in youth, 
and her beauty increaseth with her age; 'her 
tongue also is blue, and forked as the lightning, 
and her abode is among impenetrable rocks.' 

" Having pleased myself with reflections of this 
kind, I communicated my sentiments to a neighbor 
of mine, who has a surprising readiness at guess- 
ing at everything which relates to public affairs; 
and, indeed, I should be jealous of his reputation 
in that way, was it not that the event constantly 
shows that he has guessed wrong. He instantly 



21 

declared it as his sentiments that the Congress 
meant to allude to Lord North's declaration in the 
House of Commons, that he would never relax his 
measures until he had brought America to his feet ; 
and to intimate to his lordship, that if she was 
brought to his feet, it would be dangerous tread- 
ing upon her. But I am positive he has guessed 
wrong, for I am sure that Congress would not con- 
descend, "at this time of day, to take the least notice 
of his lordship, in that or any other way. In which 
opinion I am determined to remain your humble 
servant." 

The seal of the War Department bears the rat- 
tlesnake with its rattles as the emblem of union, 
and a liberty cap in contiguity with it, — the liberty 
cap enveloped by the body, so that the opened mouth 
may defend the rattles and liberty cap ; or union 
and liberty with the motto, " This we ? 11 defend." 

July 4, 1776, independence was declared. The 
American flag, however, remained unchanged until 
June 14, 1777. The British men-of-war finding it 
easy to sew some strips of white canvas on the red 
field of the great British Union ensign, and thus 
convert it into the great union flag of the colonies, 
thus decoyed into their power and captured many 
American vessels. 

Congress, June 14, 1777, "Besolved, That the flag 
of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, 



22 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

alternate red and white ; That the union be thir- 
teen stars, white, in a blue field, representing a new 
constellation.' 7 

The drawing of this flag in the State Depart- 
ment shows the thirteen stars arranged in a circle, 
the emblem of perpetuity; but the soldiers, who, 
like sailors, adhere to their traditions with extreme 
tenacity, could not forget the old crosses, and ar- 
ranged the stars so as to still preserve the design 
of the crosses — three stars at the top, three in the 
middle, three at the bottom, two stars mid-way 
between the top and middle row, and two stars 
between the middle and the bottom row. The stars 
in the rows of two stars each rested upon what had 
been the saltier of St. Andrew, and thus the union 
of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew, were 
indicated on the flag. This was the stars and 
stripes, or the star-spangled banner of our Revolu- 
tionary War. 

Such a flag as this had never been displayed by 
any nation nor by any human hand. The nearest 
type of it was at the passage of the Eed Sea by 
the Israelites. Israel was encamped over against 
the tall light-house of Pihahiroth. Pharaoh, by the 
advice of the magicians, had erected on Pihahi- 
roth a huge brazen serpent — Baal Typhon — to 
check the passage of the Israelites. The serpent 
was then the great emblem of divinity in Egypt. 



"the star-spangled banner." 23 

Otherwise Moses would not have been ordered by 
God to cause Aaron to cast his rod before Pharaoh, 
that it might turn to a serpent to prove to Pharaoh 
that Moses acted under a divine commission. 
When the pillar of cloud and fire moved to the 
rear of Israel and enveloped the hosts of Egypt in 
the darkness as of death, the pathway of Israel 
glowed with the radiance of God. The pellucid azure 
of the night of Egypt, studded with its myriads of 
stars like molten silver, and striped with the glory 
of the divine aurora, made the very heaven itself a 
starry banner of blue, red, and white, displayed by 
Jehovah, Lord God of Sabaoth. The brazen serpent, 
glowing as if of fire, made it the type of the over- 
throw of Pharaoh. When the Israelites lusted after 
the flesh-pots of Egypt, they were punished by fiery 
serpents, and cured by an act of faith, in looking 
up to a brazen serpent erected by Moses by divine 
command, which recalled the tremendous event in 
which the Jehovah they proposed to desert had, 
as Moses sung, " triumphed gloriously." The rais- 
ing upon a pole of the brazen serpent in the wil- 
derness by Moses had evident reference to this 
great salvation of a defenseless and unorganized 
multitude, by a right hand not their own. The 
parallel would be readily obvious to Nicodemus, 
" A master in Israel," when a greater than Moses 
said to him, " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 



24 OUR NATIONAL FLAG, 

wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted 
up." 

In a design for a great seal of the United States, 
submitted to Congress by a committee of no less 
eminent men than Dr. Franklin, Mr. John Adams, 
and Mr. Thomas Jefferson, the crest was to be the 
eye of Providence in a triangle, its glory extending 
over the whole shield, etc., with the motto, E pluri- 
bus unum (" One composed of many"), on the back. 
Rays from the pillar of fire and cloud beamed upon 
Moses as Pharaoh was overthrown in the Red Sea, 
with the motto, " Rebellion to tyrants is obedience 
to God." This design, however, was not adopted. 

Our ancestors drew most of their anti-types from 
the Bible. The grape-vines in the arms of Con- 
necticut, with the motto, Qui transtulit sustinet 
(" Who brought us across the ocean sustains us") ; 
the tree on the early coins of Massachusetts ; the 
green tree, with the motto, " Appeal to Heaven," 
on the flag of the floating batteries before Boston, 
and the Massachusetts cruisers, were used as 
types of God's chosen people and reliance upon the 
protection of Providence. Union and dependence 
upon Providence in the coat-of-arms of the United 
States are the chief bearings. Our coins bear the 
stamp, Upluribus unum, and " In God we trust." 

A writer in the " Massachusetts Historical Collec- 
tions" intimates the tree on the coins commonly 



25 

called " pine-tree shillings " was a cedar, not a pine- 
tree. Ezekiel was a favorite with the preachers of 
those days. In the seventeenth chapter of Ezekiel 
much is said of cedar-trees and vines as types 
of nations. A great eagle is there spoken of as 
taking the topmost branch of the cedar of Leba- 
non and carrying it into a land of traffic and 
setting it in a city of merchants. May not such 
trains of thought have suggested the eagle in the 
arms of the United States and on their coins? 

The star-spangled banner, heretofore described, 
remained unaltered until January 13, 1794, when 
it was enacted, " That from and after the 1st day 
of May, Anno Domini 1795, the flag of the United 
States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white; 
that the union be fifteen stars white in a blue field." 

This was the flag of the United States in the 
War of 1812-14, in which Andrew Jackson and 
Winfield Scott, especially, won so much distinction. 

In 1818 the flag was again changed. Mr. Wen- 
dover, an M. C. from New- York, suggested that at 
the rate the United States were growing the tallest 
pine in Maine would not make a mast tall enough 
to hoist the flag upon if a stripe was added for 
each new State. 

A resolution was passed (approved April 4, 1818), 
" That from and after the 4th day of July next, the 
flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal 



26 OUR NATIONAL FLAG. 

stripes, alternate red and white ; that the union be 
twenty stars, white, in a blue field. And that on 
the admission of a new State into the Union, one 
star be added to the union of the flag ; and that 
such addition take effect on the 4th day of July 
next succeeding such admission/' 

The flag planted on the national palace of the 
City of Mexico by the United States army com- 
manded by General Winfield Scott had thirty stars 
in the union, and, of course, the thirteen alternate 
stripes of red and white. 

Our flag, now, October, 1886, has thirty-eight 
stars in its union, thanks to the people of the 
United States, under their great leader President 
Lincoln; thanks to the courage of the officers, 
soldiers, and sailors who followed the wise and 
heroi(j leadership of General Grant and Admiral 
Farragut. 

Grant, in journeying around the world for his 
own and his country's sake, received ovations from 
the potentates of the whole world such as never 
before fell to the lot of mortal man. 

Abraham Lincoln died doing his duty. The 
whole world, including China, Japan, and the far- 
off isles of the sea, bewailed his death. The country 
he lived and died for lives and prospers. 

God bless our flag forever ! 



^"-v-v^ 



